Darkness Day 2020 - On Hiatus

Discussion in 'Great Lakes' started by SudsSavant, Feb 27, 2020.

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  1. SudsSavant

    SudsSavant Savant (1,014) Jan 9, 2007 Minnesota
    Trader

    Well, it looks like Surly's throwing their lot in to having the Minnesota beer laws revamped to let them sell beer directly from the brewery.

    https://mailchi.mp/surlybrewing/darkness-day-hiatus?e=d7b648dc59


    Here's the verbiage of their communication:

    Regarding Darkness Day

    Darkness Day is over. For now, at least.

    The annual celebration of our legendary Russian imperial stout is officially on hiatus. The move from Brooklyn Center to Somerset, WI, while necessary to keep it safe and create a better experience, also made it very apparent that this event needs to happen here in Minnesota. And, since the laws prohibit us from doing so, it won’t be happening.

    The craft beer industry is changing, and we need to change with it. Craft breweries outside of our state are growing through more options to sell beer, including directly to their customers. These opportunities are limited in Minnesota.

    The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild is working to change our current laws and give consumers more choices. Currently, laws prohibit breweries that brew more than 20,000 barrels to sell growlers directly to consumers. The new bill would allow these sales, regardless of brewery size. We need to work with the Guild and our local legislators toward this end, hoping to give craft beer drinkers this option.

    Put plainly: We want to sell Darkness bottles for you to take home from the Destination Brewery. Once we can, Darkness Day will return to Minnesota at our Destination Brewery.

    Surly Nation changed the law before. It’s time to do it again. Even with change, some traditions will remain: We’ll keep brewing Darkness, a local artist will design the bottles (see below), you’ll find Darkness in local liquor stores, and we’ll continue to raise a toast with all of you. Cheers.

    READ ABOUT THE BILL
     
  2. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    I'll point out that the bill recently introduced by Dan Wolgamott that has received a lot of media attention for some unexplained reason merely doubles the cap on eligibility to sell off-sale from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per year, and that would continue to exclude Surly (and Schell's, Summit, and Cold Spring / Third Street). Hopefully this will be an impetus to push for real reform instead of the half-ass measure. I'll note that the ability to sell pre-filled packages in a variety of sizes, not just 750 ml and 64 oz., in the version that the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild supports, could be a game changer in this state (every brewery could sell 4-packs of 16-oz. cans or 6-packs of 12-oz. bottles; many states already allow this practice).
     
  3. JMN44

    JMN44 Pundit (775) Sep 19, 2013 Minnesota

    I'd guess Surly is cancelling Darkness Day more due to financial issues the past 2 years in WI than as a protest to get MN to change their laws regarding selling beer at their brewery. Isn't Surly still allowed to sell Darkness bottles through the local distributor/liquor store like in the past at their Brooklyn Center location?

    I expect a big fight from the distributors and liquor stores to stop Surly and other breweries to be allowed to sell pre-filled packaged cans/bottles directly to customers at their breweries.
     
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  4. maximum12

    maximum12 Grand Pooh-Bah (4,662) Jan 21, 2008 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    This was my first thought as well.

    Though instead of pushing for (needed) change that is out of their immediate control, Surly could become the change we all need: put Darkness in 12 oz. packages you assholes!!
     
  5. SudsSavant

    SudsSavant Savant (1,014) Jan 9, 2007 Minnesota
    Trader

    That was never "Surly" selling those bottles on Darkness Day though. Brooklyn Center is a municipal controlled liquor store town. Surly always struck up an agreement where the city basically created a pop-up liquor store for one day in a warehouse on the same street and all they sold was Surly Darkness. Surly still "distributed" the bottles while it was the city that was selling them to the masses.

    The catch now is with the big brewery located in Minneapolis, they can't go that route and have the big festival on their grounds. Minneapolis liquor is done through private stores so if they try to mirror the same effort then the city is either playing favorites by allowing one private store to sell in the city above all others or if the city itself does it now they're competing against all the other private stores in the city.

    Surly could go back to the old way if they really wanted to. The two things working against them though (never mind the sheer volume and availability of Darkness now) are 1) the head count of participants was dwindling in Brooklyn Center before they moved it out to Wisconsin and 2) they would really like to capitalize on the whole festival by using the big destination location. Hitching their wagon to the recent movement in St. Paul now of allowing sales at any volume and any container size is just gravy.

    Stopping here before I get a reputation of long winded replies on here... :sunglasses:
     
  6. muck1979

    muck1979 Zealot (531) Jul 3, 2005 Minnesota

    Regardless of their actual motivation for cancelling Darkness Day, good for Surly. It'd be nice if Minnesota wasn't the total assbackwards state in the country with regards to our alcohol laws.
     
  7. mjryan

    mjryan Maven (1,485) Dec 22, 2007 Minnesota

    What’s this about St Paul then?
     
  8. gudbrande

    gudbrande Pundit (918) Jul 10, 2009 Minnesota
    Society Trader

    I assumed Mr Suds was referring to the movement of proposed legislation in St Paul. @SudsSavant
     
  9. SudsSavant

    SudsSavant Savant (1,014) Jan 9, 2007 Minnesota
    Trader

    Bingo! Also, thanks to you for addressing me with the title. It's like the New York Times is writing about me!
     
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  10. HawkEye19

    HawkEye19 Devotee (389) Jun 15, 2006 Minnesota

    Why did Darkness Day work in 2015, 2016 and 2017 at Brooklyn Center? The big, pretty new brewery opened end of 2014.
     
  11. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    I'm not sure I follow, but @SudsSavant explained the arrangement with Brooklyn Center in the post that you quoted. Minneapolis and St. Paul don't have municipal liquor stores, so that's not an option at the big MSP site. If Surly weren't (way) over the production cap to sell 750 ml bottles, it could host Darkness Day at the MSP location, and I suppose it could have the party anyway without the off-site sales, although that arguably would undermine the purpose of the event. I think folks at Surly would tell you Darkness Day really wasn't working at Brooklyn Center by the end of its run: Too many people were coming too early and causing too much disruption to nearby local businesses. @BillManley
     
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  12. SipIt

    SipIt Zealot (735) Jul 18, 2013 Minnesota

    While fun for the most part, I definitely agree with you. Not only did it appear to be troublesome for the surrounding businesses, but I certainly wouldn't want to be Surly managing the madness when much of it wasn't even on their own property.
     
  13. BillManley

    BillManley Pundit (825) Jul 2, 2008 North Carolina

    True story. Darkness Day at Brooklyn Center towards the end got downright dangerous. Too many people in a space not designed for it. Also, the camping and the open containers on non-bonded property was always a little sketchy, but it was a legacy thing so the city sort of looked the other way. I don’t think D-Day would be allowed to go back to Brooklyn Center even if that was on the table. Sommerset was a great venue, but it was a PITA to wrangle the logistics to get everything there, and a full two day festival where you either had to drive, or get locked-in wasn’t ideal. It’s a huge commitment for fans and staff and vendors to lock-in for that long.
     
  14. MNPikey

    MNPikey Pooh-Bah (1,681) Feb 27, 2011 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    The history that created the growler cap to begin in with is no longer applicable. It was done to "prevent large production breweries from selling growlers and taking business from smaller, craft breweries". I don't think anyone wants to take home a growler of Budweiser.

    In 2013 it was raised from 3500 to 20,000 barrels per year. Doubling it is pointless and it should simply be removed all together.
     
  15. MNBeer1017

    MNBeer1017 Initiate (0) Mar 27, 2013 Minnesota

    I’ll take a case of Budweiser growlers for my cabin
     
    Victory_Sabre1973 likes this.
  16. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    IDK if it is pointless. It does serve a point in that it encourages the growth of small breweries. Removing the limit altogether may, therefore, be opposed by those same small breweries.

    If there is to be a limit, they should remove the restriction on the kind of package the breweries can choose to sell. Just let them sell 4 / 6 / 12 packs, etc.

    Political reality is, though, that this is likely to be a slow slog over several years, mirroring what it took for the Sunday sale law to pass. There will be entrenched focused opposition that contribute to campaign funds (liquor stores, bars, distributors, and possibly unions come to mind) and diffused proponents (tap room customers, larger breweries), and most of the public won't care one way or the other.
     
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  17. nograz

    nograz Maven (1,390) Oct 30, 2013 Minnesota
    Trader

    The bill last year brought forth in part by the MN Craft Brewers Guild and supported by a large amount of breweries was pulled due instead of making major concessions. The two big ones included raising the growler limit to a much higher limit and if I remember correctly, high enough that all breweries in the state would have been able to sell growlers again (including Schells). It also changed the container size to include 12oz all the way to 2 liters I believe.

    The Teamsters used their bullshit strong arm statics to threaten they would torpedo it if their changes weren't met. Their requests were a total joke, the growler limit and container size had to be cut and they only moved on another small and less important part of the bill. They also said that for them to agree, none could bring another bill to change liquor laws for another six years.

    The MN Brewers Guild decided to pull the bill instead of caving to the demands. I have never liked the Teamsters since watching there tactics with the liquor law change battled over the year. They have way too much power and I feel like they are abusing it. They keep claiming it is going to hurt them, trying to pass it off as this would cripple their "small" business and put people out of jobs. When they unwillingness to compromise is hurting other small businesses.

    Bottom line for me, fuck the Teamsters.
     
  18. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

  19. BillManley

    BillManley Pundit (825) Jul 2, 2008 North Carolina

    To be clear, there are two competing but similar bills being brought forward.

    Bill #1 HF 3758 -- championed by a handful of brewers, proposes to raise the
    "Growler Cap" allowing brewers who produce up to 40,000 barrels annually, to maintain growler sales up to 750 barrels per year of 64-ounce or 750mL size for growlers. Read about it HERE and HERE This is the bill lamented by Mr. Kolve of Wabasha Brewing.

    The second bill is proposed by the MN Craft Brewers Guild. (No bill number as of yet)
    This bill would allow brewers of all sizes to sell up to 750-barrels worth (768-ounces per day) of 12-ounce, 16-ounce, 750mL and 64-ounce containers on-site. Additionally, it allows liquor stores/bars/restaurants the ability to sell growlers as well. Read about it HERE

    Surly supports the bill proposed by the MN Craft Brewers Guild, and not the half-measure proposed in the first bill. The Guild's proposal would truly modernize Minnesota's antiquated beer laws, offer greater choice and availability, and ultimately benefit brewers, distributors, retailers, and most importantly consumers.

    The MN Craft Brewers Guild is hosting a Rally at the Capitol Rotunda to support the modernization of craft beer laws on Tuesday March 3rd, at 1:00 PM Read about that HERE
    Sign up, write your legislators, and show up to have your voice heard.
     
    Eggman20, sjguglielmo, nograz and 2 others like this.
  20. ZAP

    ZAP Grand Pooh-Bah (3,964) Dec 1, 2001 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm all for the Guild bill. A lot of good things in that one.
     
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